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Did Gygax owe a bit of thanks to WotC?
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<blockquote data-quote="Bullgrit" data-source="post: 5143421" data-attributes="member: 31216"><p>This is all from my perspective:</p><p></p><p>Before 2000, Gary Gygax had pretty much fallen to obscurity, known about, really, only by old-time D&D fanatics. He hadn't been associated with D&D, the biggest RPG in the industry, for 15 years. His RPG work after D&D was pretty much third-tier stuff compared to D&D and the next closest games.</p><p></p><p>I was interested in the man and his writings -- I had read just about everything he had ever written, or had been written about him. I loved his imagination. But even I lost track of him in the 90s. I played with gamers in the 90s who didn't know his name.</p><p></p><p>Then WotC revitalized D&D as a brand. As a bonus, WotC brought Gygax back into the realm of "known names" in the RPG market. He had a column in <em>Dragon</em> magazine, again. He created gaming materials for the d20 market. I thought this was great.</p><p></p><p>In the early 2000s, his opinion of the "new D&D" seemed to be neutral to mildly favorable. (He said a few good things about the game, but he never went so far as to endorsed it --= and I don't think anyone expected him to.) It seemed to me that he was satisfied to be a part of the "D&D world" again, but was unsatisfied that the game wasn't his. Understandable.</p><p></p><p>But as time moved on, he seemed to take a more and more negative stance on the game. He would often insult it as an abomination from his true D&D. </p><p></p><p>It seemed that the more fans who found him, due to his exposure because of the new company and new edition, the more negative he got toward the company and the game. I found this disappointing and distasteful. I mean, the company seemed to treat him well, (considering they didn't have to treat him at all), and the resurge in popularity of the latest edition of the game supported his own resurgance in notierity. </p><p></p><p>When given an audience through the official gaming media, he was neutral, (not a problem with me), but when talking elsewhere, like on ENWorld or Dragonsfoot, or in interviews, he essentially put down the new company and the new game. This just struck me as . . . "impolite."</p><p></p><p>Now, it's not like this was out of character for him -- just check old issues of <em>Dragon</em> magazines to see him give negative opinions. But that was usually toward competitors.</p><p></p><p>In the last few years that he acted like this, it annoyed me, as an observer. I felt he owed a little something to the company and the game that brought him back out of relative obscurity. Not that he should have been all gushy/smoochy with WotC and new D&D. But he could at least not bad mouth them behind their backs. I mean, WotC and new D&D did nothing bad to or for him – in fact, they both did good to and for him.</p><p></p><p>Didn’t Gygax owe a little thanks to WotC and new D&D? Don’t we all owe them a little thanks for bringing the man back on stage for us?</p><p></p><p>Bullgrit</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Bullgrit, post: 5143421, member: 31216"] This is all from my perspective: Before 2000, Gary Gygax had pretty much fallen to obscurity, known about, really, only by old-time D&D fanatics. He hadn't been associated with D&D, the biggest RPG in the industry, for 15 years. His RPG work after D&D was pretty much third-tier stuff compared to D&D and the next closest games. I was interested in the man and his writings -- I had read just about everything he had ever written, or had been written about him. I loved his imagination. But even I lost track of him in the 90s. I played with gamers in the 90s who didn't know his name. Then WotC revitalized D&D as a brand. As a bonus, WotC brought Gygax back into the realm of "known names" in the RPG market. He had a column in [i]Dragon[/i] magazine, again. He created gaming materials for the d20 market. I thought this was great. In the early 2000s, his opinion of the "new D&D" seemed to be neutral to mildly favorable. (He said a few good things about the game, but he never went so far as to endorsed it --= and I don't think anyone expected him to.) It seemed to me that he was satisfied to be a part of the "D&D world" again, but was unsatisfied that the game wasn't his. Understandable. But as time moved on, he seemed to take a more and more negative stance on the game. He would often insult it as an abomination from his true D&D. It seemed that the more fans who found him, due to his exposure because of the new company and new edition, the more negative he got toward the company and the game. I found this disappointing and distasteful. I mean, the company seemed to treat him well, (considering they didn't have to treat him at all), and the resurge in popularity of the latest edition of the game supported his own resurgance in notierity. When given an audience through the official gaming media, he was neutral, (not a problem with me), but when talking elsewhere, like on ENWorld or Dragonsfoot, or in interviews, he essentially put down the new company and the new game. This just struck me as . . . "impolite." Now, it's not like this was out of character for him -- just check old issues of [i]Dragon[/i] magazines to see him give negative opinions. But that was usually toward competitors. In the last few years that he acted like this, it annoyed me, as an observer. I felt he owed a little something to the company and the game that brought him back out of relative obscurity. Not that he should have been all gushy/smoochy with WotC and new D&D. But he could at least not bad mouth them behind their backs. I mean, WotC and new D&D did nothing bad to or for him – in fact, they both did good to and for him. Didn’t Gygax owe a little thanks to WotC and new D&D? Don’t we all owe them a little thanks for bringing the man back on stage for us? Bullgrit [/QUOTE]
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